National Homebrew Club Ireland

Brewing Discussions => All Grain Brewing => Topic started by: bbreal on November 11, 2020, 09:43:39 AM

Title: Water Usage
Post by: bbreal on November 11, 2020, 09:43:39 AM
Hi, wondering what people are doing to improve their water usage? I'm in Ennis which has hard water and taste isn't great. I use bottled water, what are other people doing apart from going down the line of expensive water treatment systems etc.
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: Emot on November 11, 2020, 05:08:10 PM
I bought myself an RO system which was about €50, not as expensive as what I thought it would cost. It has worked out extremely well. Strictly from a "water usage" / water conservation point of view, it's not great as it wastes quite a lot of water, but you can harvest that and reuse in your garden or whatever. I then just add basic chemicals like gypsum or calcium choloride to get my water to a specific profile.

Here's the one I picked up. (https://www.waterfilterman.co.uk/fish-keeping-water-filters/248-17-reverse-osmosis-water-filter-for-aquarium-discus-fish-marine.html#/22-add_ons-standard_ro)
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: nigel_c on November 11, 2020, 05:38:25 PM
Yeah RO systems aren't that expensive. You could always go 50:50 with your regular tap water to bring all levels down. I do that some times for a few of my beers. 
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: DEMPSEY on November 11, 2020, 07:25:35 PM
R O here too. I fitted it in the kitchen for house use and it solves the issue of trying to guess your water additions.
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: bbreal on November 14, 2020, 01:35:53 PM
Hi, thanks for the pointers. I'd a look a RO systems but what I was looking at were expensive, I was looking in the wrong place. Would water through the RO system be enough or would you need additives added to it also.
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: DEMPSEY on November 14, 2020, 03:28:53 PM
R.O. water is just H2O with all the good and bad stripped out. So it's a blank canvas to start building a water profile from. For brewing you need Calcium and Chloride and Sulphate. Also Magnesium and Sodium. depending on the style of beer you want to brew you can tweek your additions of salts to achieve a good result. Standard household water already can have some of the salts you need but also may have other crap you do not need so unless you know your house water minerals content you are better off using R.O. water.
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: DEMPSEY on November 14, 2020, 03:32:49 PM
You say your water is hard. Hard water will make a beer darker than soft water. Good example is Tea made with hard water is much more black and strong looking than Tea made from soft water which will look more pale. Means that any attempt for you to make pale beers will have a darker look to them.
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: johnrm on November 16, 2020, 04:21:19 PM
Quote from: Emot on November 11, 2020, 05:08:10 PMI bought myself an RO system which was about €50, not as expensive as what I thought it would cost. It has worked out extremely well. Strictly from a "water usage" / water conservation point of view, it's not great as it wastes quite a lot of water, but you can harvest that and reuse in your garden or whatever. I then just add basic chemicals like gypsum or calcium choloride to get my water to a specific profile.

Here's the one I picked up. (https://www.waterfilterman.co.uk/fish-keeping-water-filters/248-17-reverse-osmosis-water-filter-for-aquarium-discus-fish-marine.html#/22-add_ons-standard_ro)

Where did you get one for EUR50?
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: Emot on November 16, 2020, 07:03:03 PM
The link in my post is the one I bought. It's £42.99 including delivery so €48 total.
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: johnrm on November 16, 2020, 07:41:30 PM
Blind, me.
Thanks Emot

I pulled the trigger on THIS (https://www.water2buy.com/en-ie/shop/w2bro600-reverse-osmosis-system/) today -  a 5 stage from water2buy.

I see these guys have a similar unit, just without the pump.
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: bbreal on November 16, 2020, 07:53:16 PM
Thanks for all the pointers. Is there a source people go to for RO water additions for each beer type. I can see some help from US sites, sure its the same for us but again just a question. Thanks.
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: Emot on November 16, 2020, 08:31:54 PM
Quote from: johnrm on November 16, 2020, 07:41:30 PMI pulled the trigger on THIS (https://www.water2buy.com/en-ie/shop/w2bro600-reverse-osmosis-system/) today -  a 5 stage from water2buy.
I see these guys have a similar unit, just without the pump.
I do think mine is a budget RO filter as it takes so long to fill and probably wastes 5L for every 1L it produces so I imagine you're is going to be more economical!

Quote from: bbreal on November 16, 2020, 07:53:16 PMThanks for all the pointers. Is there a source people go to for RO water additions for each beer type. I can see some help from US sites, sure its the same for us but again just a question. Thanks.
I've used Bru'n Water in the past, it's a free spreadsheet.
https://www.brunwater.com/download (https://www.brunwater.com/download)

But on my most recent brew I used Brewfather (https://web.brewfather.app/) as it's recipe and water chemistry in one. I can't say what the results are like on the brew, but it was very easy to use and seemed to suggest the correct additions based on water additions I've used before.
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: CH on November 16, 2020, 09:56:52 PM
Quote from: bbreal on November 16, 2020, 07:53:16 PMThanks for all the pointers. Is there a source people go to for RO water additions for each beer type. I can see some help from US sites, sure its the same for us but again just a question. Thanks.

BeerSmith pretty much tells you what to add in based on your base water profile.
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: pob on November 17, 2020, 10:34:41 AM
https://gcbrewers.wordpress.com/adding-water-profiles-to-beersmith/
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: Slev on December 01, 2020, 11:24:54 AM

I do think mine is a budget RO filter as it takes so long to fill and probably wastes 5L for every 1L it produces so I imagine you're is going to be more economical!

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I have the same RO system, but bought a pump from Aliexpress for it. Significantly decreases the harvest time. 30l takes approximately 2.5to 3 hours. But it depends on your filter (time increases, the more the filter is used. Especially if you are running hard water through it. I now use it after the water softener, which makes a big difference in the life span of the filter and fill speed)
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: Emot on December 01, 2020, 12:53:57 PM
Very useful Slev, is the pump attached to the RO water out or hose in? I always figured the pressure from the hose in would negate the need for a pump.
Title: Re: Water Usage
Post by: Slev on December 01, 2020, 03:02:54 PM
Quote from: Emot on December 01, 2020, 12:53:57 PMVery useful Slev, is the pump attached to the RO water out or hose in? I always figured the pressure from the hose in would negate the need for a pump.
Tsp - - - pump----ro system